356 nectaktntiDjE. 



Male : length about 6 ; tail 2-7 ; wing 2-1 ; tarsus -6 ; bill from 

 gape -9. Female : tail 1*7 ; wing 2. 



Distribution. The Himalayas from Nepal to the Daphla hills in 

 Assam ; the Khasi hills ; Manipur. This species ranges up to 

 6000 feet. The limits of this Sun-bird on the west are difficult 

 to define ; they may extend to the extreme west of Nepal, but 

 2E. horsfieldi also occurs in this State. 



Habits, Sfc. Judging from Hodgson's account of the nidification 

 of this Sun-bird, the nest and eggs do not differ in any material 

 respect from those of JE. seherice. The eggs, however, appear to 

 be less densely marked and measure about *68 by *43. 



Jerdon remarks that a nest of this species which he found at 

 Darjiling had a projecting roof over the entrance. No other 

 species of this genus, so far as is known, constructs its nest in this 

 manner. 



893. iEthopyga horsfieldi. Horsfield's Yellow-backed 

 Sun-bird. 



Oinnyris horsfieldi, Blvtk, J. A. S. B. xi, p. 107 (1842). 

 Nectarinia horsfieldi (Blytli), Bli/th, J. A. S. B. xii, p. 975 ; id. Cat. 



p. 224. 

 yEthopyga horsfieldi (Blyth), Jerd. B. 1. \, p. 366 ; Walden, Ibis, 



1870, p. 36 ; Shelley, Mon. Ned. pp. xx, 33, pi. 10 ; Hume, Cat. 



no. 230. 

 iEthopyga nipalensis (Hodys.), Gadow, Cat. B. M. ix, p. 26 (part.). 



The Green-backed Honey-sucker, Jerd. 



Coloration. The male differs from the male of *sE. nepalensis in 

 having the back and sides of the neck olive-yellow instead of deep 

 red, there being merely traces of red along the margin of the metallic 

 green of the hind neck ; in having the yellow of the breast and 

 upper abdomen almost pure, there being hardly a trace of red, and 

 in having the streaks of crimson on the breast few and indistinct ; 

 and lastly in having a much shorter bill, measuriug only "8 from 

 gape to tip. 



The females of the two species are undistinguishable from each 

 other in colour. The bill of the present species, however, is pro- 

 bably shorter, judging from the length of bill of the males of the 

 two species. The only female 2E. horsfieldi that I have been able 

 to examine is without a bill. 



Distribution. Garhwal, Kumaun, and Nepal, but probably only 

 the extreme western portion of the latter State. This species 

 descends to the Dehra Dim, and probably is found up to 6000 

 feet, as is the case with 2E. nepalensis. 



